Chapter 183
Chapter 183: Birthday Celebration
After breakfast, Zhang Bing drove his new car with a new license plate to Zhang Jiefang’s company together with Yang Ming. Zhang Jiefang had the key to the bank vault.
Zhang Jiefang was very surprised that Yang Ming wanted to give such a precious imperial jade to Liu Weishan as a birthday present. Besides being surprised, he admired Yang Ming for recognizing that money was not the most important thing at his age!
It wasn’t that Yang Ming didn’t love money. Who doesn’t love money? Money was just less important for him compared to friendship. Zhang Jiefang was happy that Zhang Bing could find such a friend like Yang Ming. He believed Yang Ming would help if his son faced difficulties one day.
Zhang Jiefang had to go to the bank himself. Because it was such a big deal, the bank wouldn’t simply give any item to others. Zhang Jiefang carefully took out the imperial jade from the safe box and put it into an exquisite gift box. Then, he passed it to Yang Ming, and he instructed Zhang Bing, “You need to lower your speed later. This is very precious. Don’t jolt the jade!”
Zhang Bing and Yang Ming couldn’t help but smile. Was that necessary? But Zhang Bing still nodded his head in agreement.
When they reached Song Jiang University Family Residence, Yang Ming called Lan Ling to come down together with the invitation card. Then the three of them went to the White Swan Hotel.
In front of the White Swan Hotel, there were many luxurious cars. Zhang Bing’s common commercial car was nothing compared to that.
After Zhang Bing parked the car, Yang Ming walked into the hotel with the present. Liu Weishan’s disciple was collecting gifts at the entrance while doing registration. Yang Ming decided to hand the gift personally to Liu Weishan because the present was too valuable. He was scared something bad might happen.
Yang Ming had to be careful due to his previous lesson. It wasn’t that Yang Ming didn’t want to trust Liu Weishan’s disciple, he might know the person but not his mind. This was a two million yuan imperial jade. There was no guarantee that no one would be greedy on it.
“Please leave the present here.” A disciple called Hou Rui blocked Yang Ming’s way and pointed to his present.
“No, thanks. I will pass it to Elder Liu myself.” Yang Ming shook his head.
“How can he find the time for that?” Hou Rui noticed that Yang Ming was still young, and he was wearing a student’s outfit. He thought Yang Ming was Liu Weishan’s student. Naturally, he didn’t think he could give something valuable. When Yang Ming rejected him, he felt that he lost face and was somewhat unpleasant.
“It’s just giving a present. It wouldn’t waste much time.” Yang Ming said lightly.
“Not wasting time? You give one, then he gives another one. Then, how can we proceed with the feast?” Hou Rui gave a cold hmph, “Quickly, what’s your name? I need to register you.”
“Then why is he bringing the present inside?” Yang Ming pointed at the fat guy who just went in.
“He? He is President Yun from Yun’s Jade Ware. His present could be worth up to a few million yuan, so of course, he needs to give it to Elder Liu personally!” Hou Rui said with contempt, “Who do you think you are? Can you compare with him?”
“My dad is Zhang Jiefang from Zhang’s Jade Ware. I’m his son! I’m representing my dad!” Zhang Bing interrupted all of sudden. He heard of Yun’s Jade Ware before. It was a prominent jewelry company, but the main business was about jade products. Its business was always on top of Zhang Jiefang. When Zhang Bing heard that the guy could enter directly, he didn’t want to step down.
“Oh? Zhang’s Jade Ware?” President Yun heard Zhang Bing too. He looked in a mocking manner at Zhang Bing. “Heh, you two are here to build a relationship too? But Elder Liu has a high standard on gifts. If it’s a common present, please try not to embarrass yourself!”
“We’ll see about that.” Zhang Bing knew what Yang Ming was holding. This was about the reputation of his family. He wouldn’t step down from that.
Hou Rui knew about the jade industry too. He heard of Zhang Jiefang from Zhang’s Jade Ware. Although Zhang Jiefang’s company scale wasn’t big, he as a worker couldn’t compare to that. He gave a cold hmph and let them in.
Yang Ming looked at the situation as a bystander. He didn’t like to show off because his identity did not match with the imperial jade. Since Zhang Bing had said so, it gave Yang Ming an excuse. He could say the present was a gift from Zhang Jiefang by that time.
Yang Ming really appreciated Zhang Jiefang. Before Yang Ming could make his own money, he was just a poor friend of Zhang Bing. Yang Ming was really grateful for being invited to Yunnan for free. Zhang Jiefang even brought him to gamble for jade.
So, Yang Ming pondered about the pros and cons of this. He couldn’t benefit from Liu Weishan at the moment, but Zhang Jiefang needed that. If that was the case, why not make use of this opportunity to pretend that the present was given by Zhang Jiefang and build a connection between Elder Liu with Zhang Jiefang? He believed that Elder Liu would prioritize Zhang Jiefang in consideration of him.
After he decided, Yang Ming wanted to bring shame on that b*stard President Yun.
The identity of Liu Weishan was famous in the jewelry industry and academic world. He had many disciples. But most of the guests were from the jewelry business. Besides sculpturing jadestone, Liu Weishan was a well-known connoisseur in the jewelry business. Although the jade processed by Liu Weishan was getting less, his evaluation of jade could increase the price by a big portion. Therefore, Liu Weishan naturally became the target of most jewelry businesses to be allied with.
The White Swan Hotel was booked by Liu Weishan, therefore, there were a lot of empty spaces. Yang Ming, Zhang Bing, and Lan Ling could easily find a place to sit. The celebration hadn’t started yet because the guests were still being seated. Elder Liu hadn’t appeared yet.
After twenty minutes, an emcee walked out from backstage. The hall was silent immediately. The celebration was about to begin.
As expected, Liu Weishan walked out together with a young lady. But Yang Ming was amazed by her!
Indeed, the young lady was pretty. She had a special essence of a mature woman. But that wasn’t the main attraction. Even if Yang Ming was lecherous, he wouldn’t be opening his mouth widely when seeing such a pretty lady.
Yang Ming was amazed that the lady was Xiao Qing! Why is she walking out with Liu Weishan? Yang Ming asked many questions in his mind. Are they cousins?
The emcee had passed the microphone to Xiao Qing while Yang Ming was still amazed. Xiao Qing walked to the front stage gracefully. Then she smiled toward all the guests. “Thank you to all of you for attending my father’s birthday while you’re busy. I really appreciate that. Next, I would like to commence the celebration.
She bowed after she finished her speech. Then, she passed the microphone back to the emcee and walked back to Liu Weishan. Liu Weishan didn’t have to say anything for himself. He only had to wave his hand and smile.
The emcee continued with a few typical blessings. But Yang Ming’s attention was on Xiao Qing. Could she be Liu Weishan’s daughter? How could that be?
I only head that Liu Weishan had a son, but he never mentioned a daughter. Besides, Xiao Qing’s surname is Xiao; Liu Weishan’s is Liu. How could they be father and daughter? Although people tended to change their surname during the red alert period. Such as “I Love My Family” [1], old man, Fuming, and son, Jia Zhiguo, had different surnames, but that was the minority case.
The next segment was the gift presentation by the guests. These guests were different from others. They usually were the CEOs of famous jewelry companies in the country. Liu Weishan was at ease to receive their gifts. These people always asked so much from him, and they were rich, therefore, he wouldn’t reject any gift from them.
Liu Weishan knew that Yang Ming valued friendship. If he told him earlier, Yang Ming would prepare an expensive gift. Liu Weishan didn’t want Yang Ming to spend so much. He felt that he was a kindred spirit with Yang Ming. Yang Ming was more like a relative of his. If it were possible, Liu Weishan wanted to build a deeper relationship with him. This relationship was different from the benefit-based relationships. Liu Weishan never excluded Yang Ming as a stranger. He just purposely told Yang Ming about his birthday the day before.
To show off the precious value of the present, each guest would open the present beforehand. Firstly, they wanted to show their “gratitude.” Secondly, they wanted to compete with others. So, Liu Weishan’s birthday celebration had become the stage for them to compete with their wealth.